(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention utilizes heat pipe technology to cool the ceramic used in transducers and acoustic projectors.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art that transducers, designed to project acoustic power, are often limited by the build-up of internal heat generated in an active piezoelectric ceramic as a result of dielectric losses. High internal temperatures can adversely change material properties, increasing losses, possibly causing de-poling, and reducing reliability and performance. A variety of cooling methods are used to address the heat dissipation problem.
In Cluzel et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,418), a piezo-electric transducer for low frequency acoustical waves comprising a stack of piezo-electric elements and alternating electrodes disposed between a front receiver plate and a counter mass. The counter mass comprises a rigid annular block surrounding the stack, a rear plate engaging the rear of the stack and an elastic connection between the block and the rear plate.
In Snyder (U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,463), a device is disclosed for improving thermal transfer inside an ultrasound probe and reducing heat build-up near the transducer face. The cable components are used as heat conductors which conduct heat out of the probe handle. They are coupled in an internal heat conductor which is in a heat conductive relationship with the transducer pallet. Thus, heat generated by the transducer array can be transferred, via the heat conductor plate and the cable heat conductors, away from the probe surface. A heat conductive structure can be embedded in the overall shield braid of the cable. Suitable heat conductive structures include thread or wire made of material having a high coefficient of thermal conductivity, as well as narrow tubing filled with heat conductive fluid. Alternatively, inlet and return flow paths for cooling fluid are incorporated in the cable. The inlet and return flow paths inside the cable are respectively connected to the inlet and outlet of a flow path which is in heat conductive relationship with an internal heat conductor in the probe handle.
In Austin et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,693), a passive cooling system is disclosed for cooling an enclosure containing electronic components. A hollowed portion of the enclosure is formed as an integral heat pipe containing a working fluid. The hollowed portion has an evaporator section located at the top and a condenser section located at the bottom. The enclosure also has hollowed side walls which serve as passageways for the working fluid to flow through in between the evaporator and condenser sections. Gravity and the pressure of evaporation force the working fluid down to the condenser section. A wick is provided for returning the working fluid to the evaporator section by capillary action. Additionally, an ultrasonic transducer driven by the heat rejected from the condenser section may be used to help return the working fluid to the evaporator section. Finally, a check valve may be employed before the evaporator section for the working fluid to fluid.
In Kelly, Jr. et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,465), an ultrasound transducer structure is disclosed which includes: an ultrasound transducer operable to generate and receive ultrasonic energy, a communication cable, integrated circuits for processing signals received from said ultrasound transducer and flexible circuits for connecting the communication cable to the integrated circuits to the ultrasound transducer. A housing contains the ultrasound transducer, the integrated circuits and the flexible circuits. A heat transfer structure is positioned within the housing and is in contact with the integrated circuit. A heat conductor resides in contact with the heat transfer structure and conducts heat generated by the integrated circuits to a heat sink.
In Kan et al (U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,909), a spindle motor assembly is disclosed which has a shaft with an integral heat pipe. The shaft with the integral heat pipe improves the thermal conductively of the shaft and the spindle motor assembly. The shaft includes an elongated portion and a sealing structure. For one embodiment, the sealing structure includes a cap and a gasket that are joined to the shaft by a brazing process.
Baumgartner et al (U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,245), a method is disclosed for manufacturing a multi-layer acoustic transducer with reduced total electrical impedance. The method is based on the bonding of two piezoelectric ceramic layers with confronting metalized surfaces to a thin electrical conductor, then electrically connecting the top and bottom surfaces to form a wrap-around electrode while a center conductor forms a second electrode. The total electrical impedance of a two-layer ceramic stack comprised of piezo-electric layers connected in this manner is one-fourth that of a solid ceramic layer of the same size. This provides for better matching of the acoustic stack impedance to that of the electrical cable, increased penetration depth for imaging within the body, and improved acoustic element sensitivity.
In regard to the references above, heat pipes having a wick are taught for a metal shaft in an electric motor (U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,909), which could be construed as substantially equivalent to a hollow bolt in the Tonpilz design (a hollow bolt may have synergistic benefits and this would not be the case for a shaft). U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,693 discloses a passive cooling system for cooling an enclosure containing electronic components; however, no combination of the cited references suggests or teaches all of the elements of the acoustic transducer cooled with heat pipes in such a manner that would be predictable to one skilled in the art.
Such a heat pipe would be a closed tube with a working fluid that vaporizes at the hot end and condenses at the cold end; thereby, transferring large amounts of heat by removing the latent heat of vaporization at the hot end and adding the heat at the cold end. Furthermore, no transducer in any of the transducers of the prior art contains off-center heat pipes.
Most transducer packages involve a stack of active ceramic. A Tonpilz transducer 10 in the prior art, as depicted in FIG. 1, consists of a stack of ring elements 12. Pre-stressed by a center bolt 14 with a radiating piston 16 on one end (the radiating piston is in contact with the surrounding water and radiates acoustic energy into the water by vibrating at acoustic frequencies). The other end of the radiating piston 16 is connected to a tail mass 18. The tail mass 18 governs the resonant frequency, which is (k/m)1/2 (where k and m are the effective stiffness and mass, respectively, of the transducer) and is heavy compared to the radiating piston 16 so that the tail mass reduces recoil as a result of the motion of the radiating piston.
Typical attempts at thermal management involve heat-sinking the stack ends to the highly thermally-conductive piston 16 and end mass (e.g., constructed from aluminum). The piston 16 is in contact with (relatively cool) surrounding fluid.
The center bolt 14 pre-stresses the ceramic in order to prevent the ceramic from going into tension during operation; otherwise, the tension would cause the ceramic to break. The stiffness of the center bolt 14 must be small compared to the stack stiffness to avoid restraining the motion of the end masses and increasing the resonant frequency.
Another common design for transducer cooling is a flex-tensional transducer 20, shown in the prior art of FIG. 2. In the figure, a ceramic stack 22 drives a shell 24; thereby, leading to larger displacement of the surrounding fluid because of the shell geometry. The ceramic stack 22 expands and contracts because of the piezo-electric effect. This expansion of the ceramic stack 22 causes the shell to expand and contract against the surrounding fluid with the result of radiating acoustic energy. The shell 24 also keeps the ceramic stack 22 in compression.